Election eve, 1800 -- 'An affection that can never die' : Adams and Jefferson -- 'Dark and menacing evils' : creating the new national system, 1786-1792 -- 'War on our own citizens' : partisanship, 1793-1796 -- 'Quite at my leisure' : Jefferson and Adams on the eve of the battle in 1796 -- 'A narrow squeak, ' 1796 : the first contested presidential election -- 'To recover self-government' : the partisan inferno, 1797-1798 -- 'Our Bonaparte' : summer 1798 to autumn 1799 -- 'We beat you by superior management' : winter and spring, 1800 -- 'The boisterous sea of liberty' : the campaign of 1800 -- 'The intention of our fellow citizens' : the election of 1800 -- 'Give them the horrors' : the House decides the election -- 'The creed of our political faith' : Jefferson's inauguration -- Epilogue : the revolution of 1800.